On Love's Gilded Wings
by ikimi
Summary: Sasuke has been returned to Konoha. But who's this new girl in town? Surprising twist at the end! SasukexOC
1. Earth

**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine, Kishimoto's. You know.

**A/N: **Yeah, I know it's five chapters, but the end's worth it. Promise.

* * *

It was one of those days where clouds seemed to hang suspended in the sky above Konohagakure like veins of marble in a globe of lapis lazuli, cushioned in the deep verdant that was the vast forests blanketing all of central Fire Country. 

A bird, surveying its territory, would find a sea of green, whispering in the wind, broken only by a perfect circle of gold, like a monolith braving the endless crashing of waves upon its surface. As it flew nearer, the bird would see the golden ring resolving into a shining citadel, resplendent with red-roofed buildings reaching for the sky. Flying even closer would reveal moving figures, on the streets, across the rooftops, through the grass and trees, like a busy hive of bees.

One pocket of inactivity though, would draw the bird in closer out of curiosity. It would dip low on its wing, skimming just above the multitudinous heads, only to be stopped short. Eyes! Onyx eyes of fathomless depth glared through poor creature, piercing through its very soul. With a cry, the bird turned and fled to the sanctuary of its viridian forest.

Sasuke Uchiha watched as the bird flew off, wishing to trade places with it. The crowd around him was growing boring, with its never-ending calls of "traitor" this and "murderer" that. If only he could summon his chidori. Let them sneer at him then! Sasuke sent a wave of chakra to his fingertips then, only to feel nothing, not even a tingle.

He curled his lip in a silent snarl. Damn Tsunade and her seals! His chakra system had been completely and effectively sealed off. He studied the arcane symbols on his arms and wrists and he let his mind wander back to the event that brought him back to this accursed village.

Sasuke could remember it as clearly as if it had been yesterday. Flashes of lightning cut through the darkness of his mind, bouts of freezing rain drenched him to his bones, immense amounts of chakra in the air snapped and crackled around him, as ANBU masks danced in and out of the darkness, in a silent pantomime of death and destruction.

He was torn out of his reverie by a gentle touch to his arm, cool and soothing. Sasuke jerked his had to the right. A girl stood there, about his age and height. She was dressed in a simple sleeveless dress that reached past her knees, shimmery silver with touches of iridescent gold and pink and adorned in patterns of crystal beads. The dress was belted at the hip with a simple black belt with a gold buckle, giving the viewer the sensation of looking at a lake vista as the sun's first rays adorned it. At her wrists were large, golden bangles, and at her throat, a single pink pearl. She smiled at Sasuke, and he noticed her eyes were bluish grey, almost silver, matching her dress and accented by black hair which framed her petite face and flowed freely to her waist. He wasn't sure why his mouth suddenly went dry and his heart rate sped up. Must be relief, a voice in his voice said, erecting a giant wall in his head. He was fine, really.

A gentle push at his elbow again jarred Sasuke back to the real world. He shook his head and followed the girl's lead out of the crowd. Suddenly, he realized that the mob was silent, and even dispersing. He glanced at the nearest man, who now refused to look him in the eye. Searching through his own memories, he vaguely remembered the girl's voice, sweet and lilting, yelling at the crowd.

Che, he thought to himself, so now they feel bad about it, do they? Wait...sweet and-?

He shook his head again and hurried after the girl, who turned and stopped at the change in his pace. They were far from the site of the crowd, out of earshot.

"Hey," he muttered, hands in his back pockets, "thanks for that back there,"

"No problem. Creeps like that need their heads handed to them," she said, laughing and tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear, "So, my name's Sakana. What's yours?"

"Sasuke," he said, accepting the proffered hand, "I don't believe I've seen you around here before,"

"Oh," she said, laughing lightly, her voice like a bubbling spring, "I'm new around here. Would you like to show me around town?"

"But of course," he said, puffing his chest.

They both laughed, and set up a time and place to meet again, and Sasuke waved until she turned a corner. It was then that he realized he'd been smiling the whole time. Sasuke frantically massaged muscles taxed beyond human proportions.

What was going on?

* * *

**Konohagakure**-Leaf Village. Will be referred to as Konoha from now on. 


	2. Water

_Everthing you needed to be happy  
Was a mystery  
_

-"Opposites Attract", by Adam Cohen

* * *

The rest of the week had dragged tortuously by. Sasuke was convinced that _someone_ (damn Tsunade!) had rigged the date, the time, the sun! Sasuke glared at it again. Had it moved an inch closer to the Tower? It had to have. He'd been standing here since an hour ago, a day ago, the beginning of time! Sasuke stormed off in the direction of the market. He had been pacing around his apartment until his roommate, Shika-something-or-the-other had kicked him out, mumbling something ANOSAbout his peace and quiet and clouds. 

He glared up at them now, ordering them mentally to push the sun on its way or _something._ A wind gusted up, as if in answer to his silent command, but oh no, that would mean his hair—Sasuke fled to the nearest storefront, smoothing his hair down and checking it in the mirror-like glass window.

Sakana found him leaning, apparently nonchalantly, on the edge of the counter of Konoha's sweet shop, just as the sun glanced the peak of the Tower.

He bought both of them a stick of dango, and they set off down Konoha's main street, each chewing on the sweet dough.

Sakana was a terrific companion, Sasuke found, witty and bright and knowledgeable. They had been arguing about the consequences of a seemingly innocuous comment in a series they were both reading, dango long finished, when they met up with Sakura.

"Oh," she had said, looking at Sasuke, then at Sakana, rebalancing the groceries in her arms. Sasuke noticed with surprise that the sun was already sinking behind the distant tree line. Did the afternoon really go that fast?

"Sasuke-kun," she said, and then turning to Sakana, "I don't believe I've seen you around here before."

The venom behind the sugary tone was unmistakable.

"Sakura, this is Sakana, she's new," said Sasuke mechanically, feeling a headache come on, "Sakana, Sakura, an old teammate,"

There was a pregnant pause, during which Sasuke fidgeted. Hey, hey, said a voice in his head, you hafta-

"Oh," said Sakura, breaking both the silence and Sasuke's train of thoughts, "you're showing her around? How sweet."

She shifted the oversized brown paper bags in her arms again. Sasuke wondered absentmindedly at the slight waver in her voice.

"Well, I've got to be going. Bye, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke watched her retreating back, realizing belatedly that she was wearing the most kowaii outfit he'd ever seen—bright pink tank top under an orange long-sleeve shirt tied around her shoulders, white- and green-checkered skort and oversized, floppy, lime-green knee-length socks bulging from her standard black sandals. He idly wondered if she had been spending too much time around Lee.

"Well," said Sakana, breaking the silence, "I think I'll have to be going too. Thanks for this afternoon! I had a marvelous time,"

And with that she was gone, with a shimmer of midnight blue and fishnets and flashes of silver. It was like-it was like...Sasuke's mind quickly stomped the metaphor out of his mind, before he could be sick.

* * *

**Dango**-a type of Japanese candy made of colored sticky rice dough filled with various, well, fillings, such as red bean paste, mitarashi, etc. and served on a skewer.  



	3. Fire

**A/N:** Oh, by the way, happy 七夕(Chinese valentine's day) everyone! I had originally written this chapter based on the Chinese lunar calendar, as this year, QiXi comes right after the week of ghosts. Of course (phail), the Japanese have succeeded in their centuries-long conspiracy to thwarp me by using a different calendar. So, here's to hoping it still makes sense! (Not that any of it does, anyway)

_The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire._

-Pamela H. Johnson

* * *

Over the next week, Sakana had met all of the people from Sasuke's former life, and probably more. The fact that he didn't know who to be jealous of, Sasuke reminded himself as he watched Sakana discuss some arcane aspect of shoji with Shika-probably-maru-as-half-the-village-males-sported-that-ending, was a sure sign that he was a better man than that, and therefore was not jealous at all. Sasuke took a deep breath, and forced a smile when Sakana turned to ask what was wrong. His cheeks still hurt from the other time he smiled. 

He had to hold back further waves of not-jealousy, when Sakana had disappeared for an entire day in the company of Ino and her terrifying horde of tittering girls. Shika-whatever-his-name-was almost kicked him out of the house again, grumbling about the noise and yawning at the same time. Sasuke ground his teeth. He was going to have to file a petition for Tsunade to stop messing with the time. Some people had lives they wanted to live out (datte ba yo)!

When Sasuke saw her the next day, Sakana's eyes looked pink and puffy, but that might have been makeup to match her new pink sandals that the girls help her pick out, as she said smilingly. He pointedly ignored Ino, who looked like she'd cleared the cupboard of cream.

The day after was the beginning of Bon. Konoha was busier than usual, as family from distant villages all gathered together in remembrance. Sasuke was alone. Shunning the festivities going on all around him, he made his way down to the Uchiha cemetery, the forever-suspicious ANBU dogging his every step. He rounded the corner that marked the boundaries of the Uchiha plot, and saw it. Grave upon grave upon grave, in a never-ending field of the deceased, a mind-boggling number, the newest, from the same event.

Eight years, he whispered silently. Eight years that he'd wasted. Living his life? Ha! While the bodies of his parents and kin lay rotting here, waiting to be revenged. Sasuke could feel the faceless accusations of the tombstones, of the ANBU weighing him down on all sides. He swept his arm through the air, as if to sweep aside all the illusions of this world. Here was the truth: revenge, and nothing else.

He bent to the task of sweeping the dirt in front of the first grave, broom clutched in a white-knuckled grip.

"Shikamaru! Thank goodness you're here!" cried Sakana, gliding into the fourth-floor apartment, "Do you know where Sasuke is? I've been looking for him all week! I-"

Shikamaru jerked his thumb towards the back of the living space. As Sakana babbled eloquently her profound thanks, Shikamaru snorted and muttered something about the roof and watching his clouds in _peace_. The troublesomeness of it all.

"Sasuke," Sakana breathed as she floated into the dimly-lit room.

There was no hint of recognition. Sasuke crouched immobile, holding a kunai up to what little light there was.

"Sasuke," she tried again, flowing closer like water, and then halted, as Sasuke turned to face her.

A trick of the light, it had to be, made Sasuke's already dark eyes disappear in shadow.

"Speak," he growled.

"Sasuke, Tanabata is next week," she said bravely, "Would you—would you like to go to the Festival together?"

Sasuke stood, in a single fluid motion, like an elegant predator.

"Go now," was his grating whisper, "Go now and never come back."

"Oh fine," she said, tilting her chin up bravely and holding back tears, her silver orbs glowing like opals, "Forget that I braved an entire days with the girls, endearing their every tease and taunt, all for your sake! Forget that I pulled you out of your little shell of misery! Forget that I ever saved you!"

And with that, she fled. Sasuke held himself as still as he could, holding back those waves of not-jealousy. It was not elation, he told himself, it was even bet-

* * *

**Bon**-A Japanese festival honoring the dead from July 13 to the 15. There is a Welcoming Obon dance festival as well as a Farewell Obon one, and many families gather back in their hometown, hanging lanterns in their doorways and visiting graves of those deceased as well as local temples. Sasuke has a pretty heavy burden on his shoulder, being the only member(well, one of two) left of the Uchiha clan. This festival would probably be an especially painful blow. 

**Tanabata**- Tanabata is the Japanese equivalent of QiXi. There's a story behind it, but my lore's rusty and it's easy to find. There's a festival connected to it, and traditions, such as writing out wishes on a slip of paper and tying it to bamboo. Although most places in Japan celebrate it on July 7, I made Konoha celebrate Tanabata on August 7, part of a minority, um, simply because it wouldn't have worked in my timeline otherwise.


	4. Wind

_The future's in the air.  
I can feel it everywhere,  
Blowing with the wind of change._

-"Wind of Change" by the Scorpions

* * *

The first sign something was wrong was when Naruto showed up at Shikamaru's door. 

"Anosa, anosa," the breathless teen panted, "have you seen Gyuuniku anywhere? She was supposed to meet me for ramen."

Shikamaru blinked.

"Did you mean Sakana?"

"Yeah, her," Naruto said, grinning apologetically, "but I waited for half a day! And she never showed up and Ino and them said that they haven't seen Tonkatsu anywhere either,"

"I wouldn't be surprised, if you asked them that," said Shikamaru, sighing and putting on his shoes, "How troublesome. Where have you looked so far?"

As the door clicked shut and the mumbling outside grew fainter, a door in the back of the apartment silently slid open. 

---

"Ohohohoho! Look how easily we've caught you, Your Highness, daughter of the Daimyo of Fire Country, Princess..."

"Hold on, the paper seems to be smudged. What _is_ that? Princess..."

Sakana glared at her captors, craning their necks over a sheet of yellowing paper, as she squirmed against the rope that held her. The too-tight bonds, however helped dispel the last of whatever it was they had drugged her with.

"Princess Sakana Jessica Angelica Meili Alexandra van Takahashi, and don't you forget it!" Sakana said as she sat as tall as the bindings would allow her.

The open-mouthed silence that followed was not quite what she'd expected, but it would do. She could already see the next moments in her mind's eye, as her two captors fell face first to the ground, begging and groveling for her forgiveness, bathing her foot in myrrh and frankincense, and-

"Repeat that again, would you?"

She sighed and complied.

---

"That Sakana," said Naruto, "is up to something bad datte ba yo!"

"What makes you say that?" said Shikamaru, leaning against the wall of the warehouse they were in.

"It's just the _way_ she makes everyone different," said Naruto, dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "even _you_, Shikamaru. When did you ever talk to women like that?"

"How troublesome," said Shikamaru, but a gleam in his eye, "So, what's your plan?"

"Listen closely," said Naruto, "we'll-"

---

Sasuke crouched on a concealed branch, studying the thatched hut below. It had been easy enough following the kidnappers—they had left an unbroken trail of clues from when they drugged her, bound her and carried her bodily through the woods, had a picnic involving ham sandwiches and candy bars, and ended up here. Wait, but what was he doing here? A little voice droned on and on about a princess locked up in the hut below, traumatized and-

Sasuke's finger brushed the kunai strapped to his right thigh in irritation.

Presently, two females walked out of the house, swathed in outfits in matching green and red. They were bickering something about different types of food. Sasuke yawned. He was bored, he was tired, his legs were cramping from crouching-

"Bored?" whispered a voice directly behind him and very close to his ear.

Sasuke leapt out of the tree, kunai already clenched in both hands, frantically searching for a target. If only he had the sharingan, never mind that he could see a black shape leaping-

"Care to play with us?" said another voice. He whirled around and saw the figure in red leering at him. It suddenly occurred to him that this was a rather stupid setup and that he'd—

"Why yes," said the one in green, grinning like a cat, "You _have_ fallen into our trap."

Sasuke took a panicked step backwards, nonononotthatdirectionlookwhosthedobenow, and felt the earth tumble away beneath him. Before he could find a foothold to leap out and away, Sasuke found himself at the bottom of a rather deep pit. Further crumbling of the earth revealed steel spikes on every inch of the walls, angled up to meet him.

"Who are you?" he roared at the three figures now looking down at him.

"I am Dragon Roll," said the figure in green with a flourish of a fan.

"I am California Roll," said the one in red, throwing metallic confetti around her.

"And I'm Baked Alaska," said the third, dressed in an identical outfit but in blue, as doves burst out of the folds of his cape, scattering rose petals in their wake. Sasuke recognized his voice as the person behind him in the tree. This one would be dangerous.

"That's Alaskan Roll," said Dragon Roll bopping him in the back of the head. California Roll grabbed the back of his nape as he fell forward, preventing him from tumbling into the pit. Sasuke could feel his eye twitch.

"And we," they continued chorally, with an elbow each from Dragon Roll, Alaskan Roll quickly lighting sparklers behind the trio, "are the Sushi Syndicate!"

Sasuke had tuned them out by this point, deciding his time was better spent finding a way out of his predicament, so absorbed that when California Roll's robes caught on fire and had to be stomped out by the other two, he didn't even notice.

* * *

I guess I can finally reveal the joke at this point. 

-Sakana, if you haven't seen it already, is Japanese for fish(which is why all of her descriptions have something to do with water). Naruto confuses this with gyuuniku, which is beef, and tonkatsu, which is fried pork.

-Dragon rolls, California rolls and Alaskan rolls are all American-invented sushi rolls. They are about as authentic Japanese food as the fortune cookie is Chinese cuisine.


	5. Void

_Chance is a word void of sense. Nothing can exist without a cause._

-Voltaire

* * *

"We've got to work between the _lines_," hissed Naruto. 

Shikamaru simply blinked at him.

"There's someone," and here he waved vaguely, "messing with us and twisting our world,"

"Sakana?"

"Who knows? But we don't have much time. We-"

---

There was no way he could climb out of the tunnel without chakra, Sasuke thought glancing at the gleaming metal spikes lining all up and down the dirt walls, and tunneling was out of the question, as he could feel the rigidity of a steel plate under his feet. Damn Tsunade and—wait! That was it!

Sasuke's mind raced. Chakra, or life force, couldn't really be blocked, so Tsunade's seal was less a hermetic seal as it was a chakra nullifier. Chakra (and here he couldn't help but hear Sakura's voice in his head) resonated at a specific frequency, so in order to block it, a seal would have to resonate at an equal and opposite frequency. If he could get his chakra to vibrate at a different frequency, the nullifier would be useless, but if he could get it to resonate at the same frequency as the seal at a great enough amplitude...Sasuke thought back to his childhood, when Itachi had shown him how, if you play the right note on a flute, you can shatter a thin glass cup. He had said that amplifying its natural resonant frequency was what had torn the glass apart. Sasuke would do the same to the seal stopping his chakra flow.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. One of Orochimaru's first lessons had been to attune Sasuke to his own chakra flow, thus allowing him to amplify and direct it. He'd memorized it as thoroughly as he'd memorized the night his brother took away his life. He made the opposite signs now, within him. Ram, monkey, boar, horse, ram, horse, ox...

---

"The whatever-it-is is manipulating everything going on," said Naruto with more of the arm-waving, "time, space, _our minds_,"

"So what do we do?" asked Shikamaru, feeling hairs stand up on the back of his neck.

"What I've been doing for some time. Sneak between everything. Add a word here, take a few out there. I need your help though. I've converted Ino and all the rest of the girls, but Sasuke's the one at the most risk."

Shikamaru leaned forward to listen to Naruto's urgent whispers, nodding every now and then.

---

Sakana wiggled free of her bonds at last. She didn't have a shinobi's training, but loosening the knot had been a cinch, and she only had to wiggle ineffectively until her captors left. She rubbed her wrist and stated for the door. Now would be the time to escape, while they were busy with a distraction.

She slipped out the door just in time to see Sasuke, enveloped in crackling, blue-white light, burst out of a hole at the Syndicate members.

"Chidori Nagashi!" he yelled as the four because multi-colored blurs.

"Aoi unagi no jutsu!"

"Akai masago no jutsu!"

Sakana ducked behind a rock in a confusion of light, heaving objects and _noise_.

"Hayazushi no jutsu!"

"Heaving roll no jutsu!"

Suddenly, there was a cry of "Sayonara no jutsu!" and everything went silent.

---

"There'll be last scene," said Shikamaru, "and it'll be soon."

Naruto nodded, adjusting his hitai-ate nervously.

"I think he knows more than you think he does," Shikamaru continued, "We just need to get him to see the light."

Naruto nodded fiercely.

---

Three figures stood in the clearing dust, silent and immobile. Sakana coughed, and could barely make out Sasuke and two others, holding up a third. All were covered in such a thick layer of grime that identity would have been impossible had it not been for Sasuke's smooth and lofty brows of finest ivory, his fine and proportionately aquiline nose, his firm Gregorian mouth and oh! those noble, jetty orbs that could send a million fangirls to their crusading death.

Suddenly, the Syndicate seemed to snap back to life.

"We'll be back!" they screeched in unison, heaved their companion between them and disappeared.

"Sasuke!" Sakana cried, running lightly towards her lover, "Are you hurt? Are you-?"

"Sakana," Sasuke managed, ducking as she grabbed for him. Then he straightened and received her as _any well-mannered lover should. _

"Sakana!" he exclaimed, a note of panic in his voice as he cradled her head between his hands and lifted it to where he could study her face, "Are you hurt? Are you-?"

"Silly," she sniffed, wiping at her silver eyes, tears glistening like jewels upon her long, silken lashes, "I was worried about you! Thank goodness you're all right,"

"Sakana," he said urgently, "I've been thinking all night, and I...I..."

"Yes, dear?" she said, orbs glowing like the moon and lips soft and luscious. _Now!_ screamed twin voices in his head, voices that sounded really, really familiar.

"Ai-shi-te-ru," he gasped, digging his metaphorical heels as Shikamaru and Naruto suddenly burst out of thin air and rescued him, Sakana's wail of frustration echoed further and further away.

"We did it!" shouted Naruto, pumping his fist in the air, "We-!"

**THE END **

**

* * *

**

I think we can leave the jutsu be, as they get more nonsensical as you go along. The only real jutsu is _chidori nagashi_ anyway, and I'm not sure how badly I'll spoil people by explaining. (I have a big mouth. Stuff gets out that shouldn't)

**Aishiteru** is Japanese for "I love you". Typical ending for a fangirl romance. Didn't think Sasuke should miss out. 8D**  
**


End file.
